Well I didn’t post them in the first two games because people politely asked prior bc they were worried about jinxing the game. But today I was nervous about not giving it a shot. I know it’s stupid, but it couldn’t hurt right?

Spree8nyk8:
Well I didn’t post them in the first two games because people politely asked prior bc they were worried about jinxing the game.But today I was nervous about not giving it a shot.I know it’s stupid, but it couldn’t hurt right?

If they win tonight, Sunday you better be the first poster on the game thread. In fact, I’ll email you the moment the thread goes up just to get you ready. ;-)

What we NEED is to not shoot 36% from the field again. Again, magic numbers should be 45% from field, 33% from three or a close variation. We’ll win the foul shots at home. And we can out-rebound them. “We don’t need shooters, we need makers.”

It would be great to have a blistering 3 PT night. Like the Chicago game back on Nov. 4th, we can put a good team to bed early if the threes fall. It’s been a while since we’ve had a game like that. Then, games 4 – 7 can go back to being a grind. Too much to ask? To not only live by the 3 pointer, but live large?

I respectfully disagree. The key to this game is fourth quarter execution particularly in terms of defensive rebounding. We let Boston get crucial buckets by failing to secure the defensive rebound. That is something the team must do better tonight. After that, I’d say any semblance of a contribution from the bench would be of great help.

I want some makeup calls and I want them now. That Walker foul was total BS and it was a four point swing in what could end up being a close game. You’d think these guys know they already robbed the Knicks in gm1

there is something to be said about the NYC crowd, while being energizing…also handicapping a young team that has never seen playoff action….added pressure, I don’t know…they looked WAY too geeeeeeked up at the start….need to settle down.

true about natalie portman AND about jeffries…he looked terrible in regular season but defensively has really taken his game up a notch on that end, at least…maybe he was rusty from not having played for so long with houston.

I think one positive of this season that has largely been missed or at least not given enough attention is the development of Walker and Williams. They came in as unproven (Walker) and practically unknown (Williams). They started the year very one dimensional as well, with Walker being the high flyer and Williams being the surprisingly good spot up shooter.

But watching this game, I’m proud of where they are at and wonder if they have a future on this team. Walker’s defense has been much improved and his shooting is MUCH better. Williams can still knock down the tres, but he also seems to be moving much better. He’s more confident off the dribble and on defense. I’m loving it.

Why can they not SECURE a rebound….everything is tipped, tapped, deflected…also the number of times the opposition gets the ball off of a deflection out of bounds (this season, not just this game), is truly unbelievable!

btw, did anyone notice how long the knicks went playing that second quarter WITHOUT a point guard? looks like d’antoni really lost confidence in TD but I think they had a lineup of Stat, jeffries, melo, walker and shawne williams for a while….am I wrong?

TD was injured, knicks came back with walker, anthony carter, and shawne williams, goes to show u don’t need so-called superstars to win it for you. they need amare to not fuck up, at least secure rebounds and play tough D, he can’t score right now.

He didn’t even have a POINT GUARD in the game for half the second quarter I believe….wow…not saying it is a bad move…just shows you how he really doesn’t trust TD to run the offense…can’t say I blame him, though…..as much as I want them to drop billups after this season and sign gasol or dandre jordan, they will have a MASSIVE hole at PG that i don’t think douglas can fill.

art vandelay:
He didn’t even have a POINT GUARD in the game for half the second quarter I believe….wow…not saying it is a bad move…just shows you how he really doesn’t trust TD to run the offense…can’t say I blame him, though…..as much as I want them to drop billups after this season and sign gasol or dandre jordan, they will have a MASSIVE hole at PG that i don’t think douglas can fill.

art vandelay:
He didn’t even have a POINT GUARD in the game for half the second quarter I believe….wow…not saying it is a bad move…just shows you how he really doesn’t trust TD to run the offense…can’t say I blame him, though…..as much as I want them to drop billups after this season and sign gasol or dandre jordan, they will have a MASSIVE hole at PG that i don’t think douglas can fill.

I guess it is better that he stay aggressive rather than let rondo waltz into the lane like in game 2….but not really sure….they can’t afford to be without a viable PG….then again, how about he doesn’t commit stupid fouls in the first place!

I don’t understand how a player goes through half the season playing like a champ in NYC, the media capital of the wall, and then loses his confidence like Fields has….how is that possible? I don’t think it is a rookie wall issue so much as it is just looking unsure of himself….he completely looks like he doesn’t know what to do with the ball…I assume it is just not getting the same open looks he gotten during the regular season against a boston team that is amazing defensively.

art vandelay:
I don’t understand how a player goes through half the season playing like a champ in NYC, the media capital of the wall, and then loses his confidence like Fields has….how is that possible? I don’t think it is a rookie wall issue so much as it is just looking unsure of himself….he completely looks like he doesn’t know what to do with the ball…I assume it is just not getting the same open looks he gotten during the regular season against a boston team that is amazing defensively.

the knicks have a conundrum in that jeffries is going to be open pretty much every other possession inside….boston is willing to cede that….it is just a matter of him finishing around the rim…I think it is probably the right call by boston not to guard him as they can collapse at the last minute and probably alter his shot 75% of the time and maybe give up a layup every now and then, but also discourage melo from passing to him and force him and STAT to take contested outside shots…..if he could finish we would be set….but then again, the entire boston defensive scheme would be completely different.

Yes aspect but asset if it is theirs to gather. TD is holding ball too long – this is not regular season and TD doesn’t go to basket like most pgs. I’d rather have mason and have more passing and running. Wow the Knicks played Terrible. Pass the ball make some motion – what is up ??? Wow how upsetting …. Anyway …. Boston is not that good people.

Getting mad. They look straight up LAZY on defense. Especially Landry Fields. If he’s not going to keep up with Ray Allen, get him out of there. Ray looks like the 22-year-old the way he’s wearing out Landry.

misterma:
Getting mad. They look straight up LAZY on defense. Especially Landry Fields. If he’s not going to keep up with Ray Allen, get him out of there. Ray looks like the 22-year-old the way he’s wearing out Landry.

Knicks had more fight and hustle in Boston than they have tonight. Makes no sense whatsoever.

the worst about this is I bet allen has one of those 3-15 games against miami where he can’t buy a bucket like he always has against OTHER teams (but never hte knicks)….last finals he hit 8 3s in one game and the next against LA I think he was 2-14 or something like that

Max:
Come on guys, it’s simple, without Billups, with Stoudamire playing hurt, we’re playing with heart, but the talent’s not enough to stay with the Celtics…

I’m not asking for miraculous talent to appear, I’m asking for the thing you claim we are playing with — HEART. We had it in Boston, but if you think we are playing with it tonight, I think we must just be watching different games

Here is what I just don’t get. JJ struggles on offense, doesn’t rebound all that well, and doesn’t block shots, Yet MDA plays him. Randolph had some offensive struggles (not to the JJ level), blocked shots, rebounded very well, but MDA would not play him much at all. Wouldn’t Randolph have been a great asset in this series?

what is d’antoni good at? This proves that we could use a new coach, they have been running isolations nearly every time the floor since the trade. Seems like he would’ve thought of something better than that by now.

Um guys in white? Yeah, this “He’ll regress to the mean” approach to defense. Yeah, that isn’t working. So maybe we can go back to a hand in the face or you know staying near the shooter. Anyway, just a thought.

art vandelay:
as much as the NY media built this series up, if they are swept this series will be as unforgettable as the nets series in 2004.

Yup, will remind me of that, you might as well be the Starbury team. We are not even close to being relevant again, we can’t even get a win. I don’t care how close we came, this is a joke. This team was a borderline playoff team post-trade. We don’t have any freaking depth, and we had to revamp the whole offense around Anthony. If he doesnt’ ahve a 40 point night then we have no chance. And how often does he have 40 point nights?

BigBlueAL: Lets face it, if the Celtics played their “A” game like they are tonight this undermanned Knick team has no chance in hell of beating them or even staying close with them.

I totally agree… We did great staying close in the first two games (the first could go in the books as “the robbery”) and I still hope we could win one, but tonight… By the way, is Landry Fields the player that we “choose” to keep in the Melo trade? :-)

Donnie Walsh is to blame for this fracking mess. As much as he has done, this still is on him. He refused to get any f’n depth at center or the point all f’n season! Instead he kept Extra E and some castoff from Jordan’s team! He needs to go.

TDM:
Donnie Walsh is to blame for this fracking mess.As much as he has done, this still is on him.He refused to get any f’n depth at center or the point all f’n season!Instead he kept Extra E and some castoff from Jordan’s team!He needs to go.

TDM:
Donnie Walsh is to blame for this fracking mess.As much as he has done, this still is on him.He refused to get any f’n depth at center or the point all f’n season!Instead he kept Extra E and some castoff from Jordan’s team!He needs to go.

What can do we do for the future? We don’t have much salary cap room, and all our young assets are gone. We have a 17th pick. If we refuse Chauncey’s contract, then we have no point guard. Landry now has no trade value. I guess we can get Gasol, yay.

Okay yes. Earl Barron sucks but he sucks less than Brown. And since the team barely has a center, it would have been nice to have someone that could at least approximate a 5. You have Stoudemire hurt, Turiaf cant play more than 15 a game, Mosgov–who sucked too BTW–is in Denver. How does Brown help the team more than Barron? I’m not saying give him a 5 year deal, but sheesh he is a better option than Brown.

from ESPN:
“Barron signed with Portland for the duration of the current season, TrailBlazers.com reports.

Spin: Barron can get rebounds with the right minutes, but chances are that he won’t secure a big role in Portland.”

Can the words “can get rebounds with the right minutes” apply to any Knicks other than Anthony during this playoff run? The Blazers have a good core of bigs yet they picked up Barron anyway. Gee, why would they do something like that? Maybe it has something to do with depth and insurance? Nah couldnt be.

Thomas B.:
from ESPN:
“Barron signed with Portland for the duration of the current season, TrailBlazers.com reports.

Spin: Barron can get rebounds with the right minutes, but chances are that he won’t secure a big role in Portland.”

Can the words “can get rebounds with the right minutes” apply to any Knicks other than Anthony during this playoff run?The Blazers have a good core of bigs yet they picked up Barron anyway. Gee, why would they do something like that? Maybe it has something to do with depth and insurance? Nah couldnt be.

it’s just embarsssing when you’re starting unit puts you in a 22-5 hole, they are better with their bench, anthony carter wasn’t even that bad, I think Jjefries and Turiaf together wouldn’t be bad. yeah i like amare, but he’s hurting us. His strength is scoring and he can’t score, he can’t defend either. Jeffries is actually improving every game it seems, turiaf does well in the pnr.

Also BBA, it’s not about Earl Barron per se, it’s about the refusal to sign someone, anyone, that stands above 6’9″ and can grab a f’n board. Earl Barron fits the bill, AND, we had the inside track on him. Instead, Walsh chose 2 additional forwards.

These games just underscore everything we’ve written here for two months – the team has a roster problem.

I’m actually very impressed that Melo proved in game two he was everything we traded for — a go-to scorer without mercy. The problem is we traded all of our role players for him, save Landry, and we pay him $17M a year.

So we have two great players, nothing else, no GM, and no chits to trade. It will be a long summer and likely a long five years, since I don’t think Dolan is re-upping with Walsh.

In fact, the saddest moment this week for me was Johnny Hoops interviewing Walsh on ESPN radio while I was listening to game 1. JA (who I think is on the MSG payroll) didn’t even ask about the contract extension. Which means he wasn’t allowed to. Which means we are doomed.

everyone is to blame, no exceptions. the rot starts from Dolan on down. Melo has sucked for 2 out of 3 games, if he’d been even mediocre in game 1, this series is still only 2-1 Boston.

on the other hand, Boston has maybe four Hall of Famers (assuming Rondo keeps it up) and even Jermaine O’Neal was a legit MVP candidate at one point, and they’ve all been seemingly much more inspired by the awesome atmosphere of MSG than any of the Knicks. much like the Bird/Parish/McHale Celtics I despised while growing up, they play exceedingly smart (and a bit dirty) ball. I will be rooting for Miami hard against them.

I was at least pleasantly surprised by the intelligence/intensity of the crowd tonight, I was worried they may have dumbed down demographically since the last big games at MSG, but no such problem. NYC is still a hoops town, I hope there’s another legit contender before I die. AND I’M NOT GETTING ANY YOUNGER.

ess-dog: Look, nobody’s feeling very special right now.Let’s just agree that the roster needs some work.

Of course it does. But being frustrated about tonight then saying this is Walsh’s fault because they didnt sign Earl freaking Barron is just intended to piss off and rile people like me up and it worked.

Because if you really believe signing Barron wouldve made a difference tonight or in this series you are a complete moron.

TDM:
Also BBA, it’s not about Earl Barron per se, it’s about the refusal to sign someone, anyone, that stands above 6’9? and can grab a f’n board.Earl Barron fits the bill, AND, we had the inside track on him.Instead, Walsh chose 2 additional forwards.

Exactly. I just threw out the first name that came to mind. I’m sure there are like 50 other centers better than that, I just have not had time to do the research.

TDM:
BBA – you and I have agreed on a lot in the past, but to refer to Thomas B. as a troll is, well, lame.

I just said that because in the past others have called him that. I have defended him in the past saying he is not a troll. I like Thomas but he does say stupid shit at times just to rile people up and it worked tonight in regards to me at least.

TheRant: hile I was listening to game 1. JA (who I think is on the MSG payroll) didn’t even ask about the contract extension. Which means he wasn’t allowed to. Which means we are doom

TheRant:
These games just underscore everything we’ve written here for two months – the team has a roster problem.

I’m actually very impressed that Melo proved in game two he was everything we traded for — a go-to scorer without mercy.The problem is we traded all of our role players for him, save Landry, and we pay him $17M a year.

So we have two great players, nothing else, no GM, and no chits to trade.It will be a long summer and likely a long five years, since I don’t think Dolan is re-upping with Walsh.

In fact, the saddest moment this week for me was Johnny Hoops interviewing Walsh on ESPN radio while I was listening to game 1.JA (who I think is on the MSG payroll) didn’t even ask about the contract extension.Which means he wasn’t allowed to.Which means we are doomed.

G’night all.

I don’t even think we have 2 great players. Great players don’t go 7 points, 3 rebounds, 15 points off 4/16 shooting. I rarely see lebron (who is a great player) or dwight have nights like that. Everyone thinks we have two “great” players, we have two solid players that cannot carry us to a championship. We also do not have depth, tho our role players were not bad at all tonight.

what kind of odds would any of us have given in December against Jared Jeffries getting 11 shots for us in our first home playoff game in years? JARED FREAKING JEFFRIES. the curse of Isiah, it never ends.

BigBlueAL: I just said that because in the past others have called him that.I have defended him in the past saying he is not a troll.I like Thomas but he does say stupid shit at times just to rile people up and it worked tonight in regards to me at least.

I honestly was not trying to rile people up with earl Barron. He was the first 7 foot guy that can rebound that came to mind. My position–idiotic as it may be–is that the Knicks were 1 maybe 2 defensive boards away from wins in games 1 and 2. And with Stat hurt, and Turiaf not 100% it would have been nice to have a back up center on the roster. Forget Barron. Pick anyone you like. Point was we should have added a big. I had no clue that would upset you so much.
my bad.

Jake S.:
So what can we do with Chauncey Billups’ carcass? Someone please distract me with a trade proposal.

I think until the new CBA is in place it is impossible to come up with different trade scenarios and stuff because whatever the new CBA is will influence alot what moves can/will be made in the future.

jon abbey:
even if we had Earl Barron, let’s not forget that D’Antoni refuses to play centers even when he has them.
Wasn’t that pretty much Walsh’s explanation at the time when the question was asked?

Thomas B.: I honestly was not trying to rile people up with earl Barron.He was the first 7 foot guy that can rebound that came to mind.My position–idiotic as it may be–is that the Knicks were 1 maybe 2 defensive boards away from wins in games 1 and 2.And with Stat hurt, and Turiaf not 100% it would have been nice to have a back up center on the roster.Forget Barron.Pick anyone you like.Point was we should have added a big.I had no clue that would upset you so much.
my bad.

I dunno why I got so pissed to be honest lol. By now as usual I am calm since the game is over. During the game though I lose it like most everyone else. At least for the most part I become rational again once the game is over lol.

I’m feeling pissed because I showered, shaved, put on a pressed shirt, bought some flowers and chocolate, knocked on my date’s door and some other guy answered.
Can’t believe I was so optimistic today.

Tonight is what I worried about. I mentioned the other day I hope the Knicks dont get swept and killed at home because they played too good and hard in Boston and didnt deserve to get swept.

Lets hope the Celtics come out flat on Sunday and the Knicks show the same pride and effort they showed in Boston to at least avoid a sweep and win on Sunday and break the 10 year streak of not winning a playoff game.

the officials did us no favors in the first half either, there were 4-5 big calls that all seemed to go Boston’s way and I thought cost us about 10 points (that charge on Walker on his dishoff was especially insane). especially after the end of game 1, that seemed pretty unfair.

But c’mon, as bad as tonight is the future unlike what many here want to make it out to be is not bad. They may never become a 60 win title contender but they will be a perennial playoff team for the next few years and Im assuming that as long as Isiah doesnt return they will also become a regular 50 win team that will hopefully give us some decent playoff runs.

When Amare came out and threw up those first two flippy, scoopy bits o’ nonsense, I thought, “whu boy–that’s not good.” That’s just the worst outcome with a player who has been injured; coming back but not at all effective.

Jake S.:
The worst of it is that he complained about it at halftime. I’m with JVG. If you’re playing, shut the f up.

Meh. I think it’s pretty obvious that he has no lift. No sense acting like it’s some state secret. It’s not like trying to disguise a broken finger so that guys don’t take whacks at it. I think sometimes JVG gets on an alpha-male kick and gets carried away with things that don’t matter.

Spree8nyk8:
Well I didn’t post them in the first two games because people politely asked prior bc they were worried about jinxing the game.But today I was nervous about not giving it a shot.I know it’s stupid, but it couldn’t hurt right?

cgreene: Every dog has his day. Some day us dogs will have ours. This blog has been the best part of the Knicks last few years. Brighter future ahead. At least we didn’t win 29 games.

Maybe Im naive but if you read above Im still excited for the next few years for the Knicks too. Maybe Im stupid for not being a championship or bust fan but Ill gladly take making the playoffs every year, winning around 50 games and hopefully going on some decent playoff runs once in awhile.

Was at the game tonight. Everyone here is talking about ramifications for the future, but this game was a complete anomoly, IMO. Team focuses on trying to get Amare involved first 5 minutes and obviously he couldnt play. Next thing you know we are down 15. Team comes back with a lot of heart, but killed by a number of bad calls which meant they are down 8 instead of tied at end of 1st half.

2nd half, same thing happens with Amare. Meanwhile, Allen and Pierce both on fire. Some of that was Knicks D, specifically TD. Him and Fields were a bit overwhelmed by the situation, but what do you expect? They are young guys with no playoff experience.

I dont care if MDA or Doc Rivers or Popovich or Thibideau is out there. If the Knicks are full strength and the Celtics dont have Ronod and Pierce, Knicks would likely win by 10. And if the Knicks happened to hit shots that night, it would look like what the Celtics did to them tonight.

There really are no conclusions to be drawn besides you cant be missing your best 2 players and hope to compete in the playoffs. Hence, despite the idiots at the Garden chanting for MDA to be fired and to bring back Van Gundy, I’d be very happy to bring Pringles back.

What happened to the Cock Jowles who was pissed the refs cost the Knicks Game 1 and was for once actually sounding like a real Knicks fan by saying the Knicks could beat the Celtics and actually saying he was hoping they beat the Celtics?? lol

Time to comfort myself by reading player profiles on draft express. Let’s get a second late pick and pick up 2 of Mirotic, Noguera and Faried. Faried’s probably the most finished product, but Mirotic would definitely spread the floor (6’10”, excellent 3 point shot, sound familiar?), while Noguera is like 7″ with a 7″6 wingspand (but super skinny and only 18). Does Faried do anything other than rebound? Never really got a chance to watch him. Anyway, 2 of these guys plus Jerome Jordan and I think we’ll have some solid depth at center next year…

cgreene:
Ps Amare was hurt. Whether or not that happened in an idiotic way is irrelevant. It’s nt like he just didn’t show up. But man does he look fragile for the next 5 years.

it’s not irrelevant, though, it’s symptomatic of the rot and stupidity that permeates every level of this organization.

I don’t have the energy to look up the quote right now, but Amare was bragging after game 1 that there was no way Boston could stop him. you didn’t hear Ray Allen saying that, and he didn’t have a former defensive player of the year guarding him. it’s reminiscent of the Marbury “I’m the best PG in the league” comment, the basketball gods do not like that level of chutzpah. Amare is getting paid $20M per year to be a star in these exact games, to get hurt for at least two games practicing a move you’d only use in a dunk contest is unacceptable.

Thomas B.: My position–idiotic as it may be–is that the Knicks were 1 maybe 2 defensive boards away from wins in games 1 and 2.And with Stat hurt, and Turiaf not 100% it would have been nice to have a back up center on the roster.

Turiaf, even when playing at Gonzaga, wasn’t sturdy enough to carry a full load. Walsh knew, or should have known this, but chose to ignore the obvious.

BigBlueAL: Im assuming next season he will be playing less minutes during the regular season which will help him alot I hope.

i’m just curious…. exactly how is he going to play less minutes next year? are 4 rotation players being delivered by the easter bunny riding on a white unicorn crapping out golden ponies?

i mean if they re sign billups, they are at the cap for next year with zero starting center and a 2 guard that platzed the last 1/3rd of the year and doesn’t suit an iso for melo system along with a d-league bench and most of our future draft choices gone.

in these 3 playoffs you got to see the full monte from melo. he was bad in game one. he was terrific in game 2, but absolutely quit the last 4.1 seconds trailing by 1 point. how he doesn’t chase into the backcourt on the inbounds, is a mystery. at age 8 in cyo ball you learn the ball can be inbounded to the backcourt for god’s sake.

in game 3 he shot a typical 4-18 and got totally pwned by pierce without a scintilla of defensive effort.

that’s why everyone knew here he is a great scorer and not a great player.

I think not fouling West must have been a communication breakdown (Melo thinking someone else had him). Even the dumbest player in the world would have fouled West there, so it had to be that Melo thought someone else had him.

By the way, someone brought up an interesting point earlier about how Melo was asking for more support. I do agree that it is poor form for him to do that (since he directly controlled how much support he had, he could have gotten the Knicks to give up fewer players but he chose to take more money in exchange for the Knicks having less support staff), but understandable (I think about 99% of NBA players in that position would show the same poor form), but what irks me more than Melo saying that (as, again, that is standard NBA fare) is the fact that no one in the media called him on it. It’s like they all collectively forgot about the Melo-Drama before the trade.

Has anyone else thought that the whole “flu game” was really a ruse? the more I look back at it and watch the video the more I think it may have been completely exaggerated by MJ….as it stands it is my most amazing moment for him as far as I am concerned….but the more I examine it the more I start to think he might have been milking it and really wasn’t all that flu-ridden…….maybe just a bit hung over from a hard night of hitting the black jack tabbling!!!!!!!!!1

Very tough game to sit through. I turned it on several minutes late and it was already 9-0. The fact that I thought the Knicks would win says more about me than them. Along those lines, might as well post a few optimistic thoughts: (1) Amare’s back injury is not chronic. (2) IMO, Fields will come back with additional weapons next year. He will not sit back on his laurels. (3) Hopefully Amare and Melo will learn to play together. (4) I see TD and Shawne Williams improving, at least marginally next year. (5) The Knicks will sign/draft another big who will be more effective than the current players. (6) The Knicks will be in the hunt for CP3 and may be able to secure his services sometime during next season. Someone needs to run this team and I am not in favor of bringing back Chauncey. (7) There seems to be some stability in management, but of course this could change quickly. This is about the best I can do at this point. To add insult to injury, there was snow and ice on the ground when I woke up this metaphorical morning.

I’m trying to think of some way to get the horrible taste out of my mouth from this loss.

Wasn’t this result what we were all expecting? We were never going to look good in every loss. A superior team like Boston can very easily make the Knicks look like clowns. They can’t all be Game 2s. Not every loss can be a moral victory.

I’m just as disgusted as anyone at tonight’s abortion of a game, but it seems to me that if any other team sustained major injuries to two of their starters, they would be torpedoed as well. Rondo could have hit the deck and hurt his knee instead of Billups. Garnett could have pulled a back muscle during warmups. Miami doesn’t have the depth to cover for a Wade or Lebron injury. Look how bad the Spurs are without Ginobili.

If we were going to make any semblance of a playoffs run this year, we needed to have everyone healthy, all hands on deck. Billups got hurt and Amar’e got hurt. Without those two the Knicks have no business even being in the playoffs.

So I hope our Knicks blow the doors off in Game 4 but this result isn’t anything surprising.